The mitochondrial genome of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been sequenced and found to encode cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), subunits 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of the NADH dehydrogenase (NAD1, NAD2, NAD4, NAD5, and NAD6), a reverse transcriptase-like protein (RTL), the small and large ribosomal RNAs, and apocytochrome b (COB). However, the 0.5 kb left and the 0.6 kb right terminal sequences of the genome have not been characterized due to difficulties in cloning these ends. Preliminary data suggest that inverted repeats are present in the terminal ends. The terminal inverted repeats have been reported to be the sites of origin of DNA replication, promoter function, and recombinational events. In this research project, termini of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mitochondrial genome will be characterized using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Their possible involvement in replication, transcription, and recombination will also be investigated.